Nigeria Released 4,000 Prisoners To Ease Prison Overcrowding In Lagos Thousands of prisoners across Nigeria have been released from prisons...
Nigeria Released 4,000 Prisoners To Ease Prison Overcrowding In Lagos
Thousands of prisoners across Nigeria have been released from prisons in an effort to deal with overcrowding.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said the government has approved the release of 4,068 out of 80,804 inmates in 253 correctional facilities across the country, who are being held in prison for failing to pay fines.
The ministry's spokesperson Ajibola Afonja told the French news agency AFP that only prisoners whose fines did not exceed one million naira were selected to benefit from the release.
The move was part of the efforts of Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was elected earlier this year to see the overcrowding of prisons in Nigeria. The United Nations says Nigeria's prisons are overcrowded at 147 percent instead of 100, and detainees can wait years before they can appear in court.
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